Half a Heart
by lazycatlady
Summary: "I'm not broken, I'm human. My bad parts aren't going to vanish just because you want them to". After being fired from her job, a troubled young woman travels to Leadworth in search of a fresh start. There she meets the Doctor, a strange man with a time machine and a knack for getting into trouble, and begins to realise she may not be as alone as she had once thought.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello! So basically this is my first ever fanfic and I am extremely nervous about posting it (I can hear my heart pounding in my ears as I type this, help!) so please be kind to me. Its basically a rewrite of series five (and possibly onwards?) with my oc added in. Feedback would be much appreciated because I am very new at this._

 **Well, here goes nothing! I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"He was being a dickhead. He deserved it!"

"Not helping, Miss Clarke."

Lila folded her arms and leant backwards in her chair, shaking her head in an attempt to brush her long hair out of her face. Beside her a short, angry man was shouting something in French and waving his fist in the air. Her boss was talking soothingly, trying to calm the man down. Lila didn't need to understand French to know what they were talking about. They wanted her out for good this time, she could see it in their faces.

She didn't mean to get angry, she really didn't. Most of time she was quite the opposite– quiet, not really the sort to make friends or interact with people unless it was absolutely necessary, but it was almost as if there was a switch in her head. One minute she was fine, the next she was blinded by rage. And it was fun. She enjoyed it. Well, until she came to her senses and realised just how much trouble she had caused.

She remained silent, fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater, until the angry man left the room. She heard a loud sigh and looked up at the man sitting opposite.

"Miss Clarke," he began, "What you did at the factory was unacceptable in itself, but this?"

Lila looked down sadly.

"We wanted to get you help, not fire you. That's all any of this has ever been about: getting you help so that you can continue to work for us. Nobody else can work computers the way you can. Having you on our team has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. But we can't allow this sort of recklessness." He stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of her.

"It won't happen again." She muttered weakly "I promise."

He sighed and rubbed furiously at his temples. "I would believe you if this was the first time, Miss Clarke, I really would. But it isn't, and if you stayed here I doubt it would be the last."

"I promise! Just please give me one more chance."

"You're great at what you do, Lila, you really are, but I think you need a break. A long break. Go somewhere quiet, learn how to relax and control your anger, then we'll talk again. But until then…"

Lila bit her lip. She knew where this was going.

"…I can't keep giving out second chances. I'm sorry."

There was a long silence.

"Its okay." She said numbly. "I guess I had it coming."

"We can get you a flight somewhere, if you want, even organise accommodation for a while if that's what you need. But you can't stay here. My decision is final. Do you have somewhere to stay?"

She laughed harshly. "I've been working for you for five years, Sam. I have lived on this base the entire time. I pretty much have no friends outside of here, no family; I don't even have a house to live in. You do the math."

Sam opened his mouth, but she cut him off.

"But it's fine, it's all fine. Just… give me a few days, would you? To get packed up and say my goodbyes? I doubt you lot will let me back through the doors once I'm gone."

Sam sighed.

"I'll give you until monday morning. That's two days. They'll want to move someone else into your flat as soon as possible. If you need any longer we can set you up with a cheap hotel room until you find someone else to stay. How does that sound?"

Lila sighed, but nodded.

"That's fine." She looked around sadly. "I guess I just wanted a bit of time to say goodbye."

"Of course. I completely understand." He sighed, then chuckled. "It's going to be awfully quiet here without you around. I'm not sure how I'll cope not having you to boss everyone around."

Lila smiled tightly. "I'm sure you'll manage."

"Ah, yes. I'm sure I will. It's a shame, you could have had quite a promising career her. Its unfortunate it had to end this way." He stood up, walked towards the door and motioned for her to follow. She let out a heavy sigh and stood up, swinging her back over her shoulder.

"So long, Lila."

"Goodbye, Sam. See you around, I guess."

The wooden door shut behind her and Lila paced briskly to the elevator. She wandered slowly out of the dreary-looking building and across the lawn, stopping every so often to look around the only place she had ever felt truly at home. She managed to make her way into a small park down the street before her façade crumbled and she burst into tears.

"Stupid." She growled, hitting her palm violently against her forehead in a fit of rage. "Stupid. Stupid. STUPID." She let out a cry of pain and let her hand fall back into her lap. No doubt that was going to bruise. This was getting ridiculous. She had to fix this somehow.

She sighed and picked up her phone, scrolling through her list of contacts. There was only one person she could think of who would even consider letting her stay with them. She let out a shaky sigh and tapped her feet anxiously. She placed the phone to her ear and waited.

"Jeff? It's Lila Clarke. I know this is sudden, but I was wondering if I could ask you a favour."


	2. Chapter 2

Lila woke to the sound of birds chirping and daylight streaming through her window. She groaned and rolled over. She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece and her eyes widened. It was past eleven. She never slept in, though she was out late with Jeff and Amy, so it was probably expected.

She sat up, swung her legs out of the bed and stood up, quickly changing into jeans and a t-shirt and making her way out of the spare room and into the living room. Jeff's grandmother was flicking through television channels and frowning.

"Morning Mrs. Angelo!" she exclaimed brightly.

The woman smiled at her briefly, then frowned and continued to push buttons on the remote.

"Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"What are you watching?" She asked.

"Nothing, dearie. I'm trying to watch the news, but all that appears is this."

She motioned to the screen, where a video of a giant eyeball was playing. Lila motioned to the remote.

"Do you want me to try?"

Mrs. Angelo handed it to her and she began to press random buttons. She tried all the different channels first, then moved on to the extra buttons. She had no idea what any of them did, but she hoped they would do something to get rid of the giant eyeball.

"What do you think it is?" asked Mrs. Angelo

"I don't know. But whatever it is, it's annoying as heck. And it's on every channel."

"Some sort of sci-fi show, maybe?"

Lila scoffed. "On every channel? God, I hope not." She pushed a few more buttons, then threw the remote down furiously. "It's on Every. Single. Channel. Even the advertising ones. That can't be right."

Mrs. Angelo shrugged. "Maybe its some sort of mistake? A glitch, perhaps. Or a prank."

"Do you want me to call the television people? Maybe they can sort it out. I don't know, reset something maybe?"

"If you wouldn't mind, dear, that would be lovely."

Lila sighed and walked back into the guest room. She picked up her phone from where it had been sitting beside her bed and began looking up the number for the television company. She heard voices in the next room and wandered back towards them with the phone pressed between her ear and shoulder. Amy, a friend of Jeff's was standing in the room beside a scruffy looking man who was hitting the television remote with the palm of his hand.

"Hey Amy." She waved awkwardly

Amy smiled "Hey Lila. Have you recovered from our adventures last night?"

Lila groaned. "I am never stepping foot in a club again. They're far too loud for my liking. It's on every channel, by the way." She called over to the man, "The radio's playing it too. I'm guessing it's some sort of stupid prank?"

The man shook his head

"What is it, then?"

"It's a message." The man replied.

"Amy" Mrs. Angelo turned to her and motioned to the strange man "Who's your friend?"

The man turned to them.

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia."

Amy frowned "Yeah, and now I'm Amy."

"Amelia Pond. That was a great name."

"Bit fairytale."

Mrs. Angelo turned back to the man.

"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before."

"Not me. Brand new face." The man stretched his face out for effect.

Lila raised an eyebrow.

"First time on. And what sort of job's a kissogram?" he asked Amy.

"I go to parties and I kiss people" she replied, coughing awkwardly. "With outfits. It's a laugh."

"You were a little girl five minutes ago."

"You're worse than my aunt."

"I'm The Doctor. I'm worse than everybody's aunt."

"And that is not how I'm introducing myself." He muttered to Mrs. Angelo.

The man, the Doctor, began to scan the radio with a strange device.

"Okay, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world."

He ran to the window stuck his head out. Lila and Amy followed.

"What's up there?" Lila asked "What are you looking for?"

He brought his head back inside and began pacing up and down.

"Okay. Planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core? They're going to need a forty percent fission blast."

"Fission blast? What the hell are you talking about?" Lila exclaimed.

Jeff came into the room and the Doctor walked over and began talking to him. Well, at him.

"But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium sized starship, that's 20 minutes." What do you think, twenty minutes? Yeah, twenty minutes. We've got twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes to what?" Lila asked.

"Are you the Doctor?" Jeff asked.

"He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor!" Mrs. Angelo exclaimed excitedly, turning to Amy, "All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor. It's him."

"Shut up." Amy whispered.

"Cartoons?" the Doctor asked.

"Gran, it's him, isn't it? It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up!" Lila snapped "Twenty minutes to WHAT?" she asked, turning back to the Doctor.

"The human residence will be incinerated. Repeat."

"The human residence. They're not talking about your house; they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there there's a spaceship, and it's going to incinerate the planet."

Lila's eyes widened "What? WHAT?" She shook her head. "Is this some kind of joke?"

The message came again. "Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"No. I wish it were. Twenty minutes to the end of the world."

* * *

The Doctor ran briskly down the middle of the road, Amy and Lila trailing after him.

"What's your name, by the way? I never asked." He glanced at Lila briefly

"Lila Clarke."

"Good to meet you, Lila Clarke. Let's go save the world."

"What is this place?" he asked them, "Where am I?"

"Leadworth." Amy replied

"Where's the rest of it?"

Lila rolled her eyes. "This is it, unfortunately."

"Is there an airport?"

"No."

"A nuclear power plant?"

Lila scoffed "No."

"Even a little one?"

"No."

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester. Half an hour by car."

"Do we have a car?"

"No."

"Well, that's good. Fantastic, that is. Twenty minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut."

Lila laughed "Trust me, after living here a few weeks you get used to being bored out of your mind. I've even picked up knitting."

The Doctor stopped and turned to her. "You've only lived here a few weeks?"

She nodded. "I'm staying with Jeff and his grandmother for a little bit."

"Why? Are you related? You don't look related" he glanced at the long, red hair trailing down her back. He looked from Lila to Amy, then back to Lila "Are you two related?"

"No? Is this really important right now?"

"Everything's important. Why are you staying with Jeff?"

Lila shrugged "I got fired."

"From what?"

Lila rolled her eyes. "My job."

"Doing what?"

"Programming computers for the FBI. Is this really important right now?"

"The FBI? You're American, then?"

Lila shook her head. "Born and raised here. Well not Leadworth, London."

"You sound a bit American."

Lila shrugged "Lived there five years, so I guess I would."

"Hang on… you worked for the FBI?" Amy asked, surprised.

"Mhmm. Got kicked out a couple of weeks ago. Well, I say kicked out. They told me they would suspend me from work and get me 'proper help' for my anger. I told them where they could shove their help. And, you know…" she paused, her voice lowering "… sort of set fire to one of their computer labs. But they had it coming."

The Doctor and Amy both stared at her, eyebrows raised. She looked up at them.

"What? Nobody was hurt! I'm not that terrible. I just like messing with assholes who think they're better than everyone else. Now is this really what we should be focusing on?"

"Probably not, but if I'm about to save the world with someone, I'd like to know a little bit more about them than just a name. What is that?"

The Doctor ran forward and stopped in front of a small pond

"It's a duck pond." Amy replied

"Why aren't there any ducks?" The Doctor asked

"I don't know. There's never any ducks."

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" The Doctor shot back

"It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?"

"I don't know. Why would I know?"

The Doctor suddenly stumbled backwards and clutched his chest, doubling over in pain.

"Are you okay?" Lila called out, concerned.

"This is too soon." The Doctor muttered, "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."

"What do you mean done? What's wrong with you?"

The Doctor didn't reply. The three stopped and looked up as the sky suddenly got darker.

"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amy asked.

"Doctor? What's wrong with the sun?"

"Nothing." He assured them, "You're looking at it through a force field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere. Now they're getting ready to boil the planet. Oh, and here they come." He looked over at a group of people who had their phones out, filming the strange looking sun.

"Yes, good on them." Lila glared. "We're about to die, but you know, lets get out our phones and film the fucking sun."

"This isn't real, is it?" Amy spoke suddenly. The Doctor and Lila turned back to her.

"This is some kind of big wind up." She continued, clasping her hands together anxiously.

The Doctor frowned. "Why would I wind you up?"

"You told me you had a time machine."

"A time machine?" Lila raised an eyebrow at the doctor "Do you really think she's that stupid?"

"Oi! There's a spaceship in the sky about to boil your planet and you seem completely fine with that, but somehow a time machine is completely implausible? Anyway, she believed me." He said, pointing a finger at Amy.

"Then I grew up."

"Oh, you never want to do that. No. Hang on. Shut up. Wait. I missed it." He hit his palm against his forehead. "I saw it and I missed it. What did I see? I saw. What did I see? I saw, I saw, I saw–"

The Doctor looked around, then looked at the clock. He turned back to Amy and Lila, who were staring at him.

"Twenty minutes. I can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."

"No." Amy said

"I'm sorry?"

Amy grabbed him by the tie and shouted "No!"

She dragged him over to a car and pushed him against it. Lila stared, shocked, for a moment, before running after them.

"Amy, no, no, what are you doing?"

"Amy?"

Amy slammed the Doctor's tie in the door, then took the keys form the bewildered driver and locked it.

"Are you insane?" Lila gawked, trying to grab the set of keys in Amy's hand. Amy held them away from the shorter woman and stepped closer to the Doctor.

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am." The Doctor replied

"No, really. Who are you? And as a matter of fact…" She pointed an accusing finger at Lila "Who are you? You've been staying with Jeff for almost three weeks now and nobody else in the village knows anything about you."

"Can this not wait until later?" She exclaimed.

"Look at the sky. End of the world, twenty minutes."

"Well, better talk quickly, then."

The man beside them spoke up. "Amy, I am going to need my car back."

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee."

"Right, yes." The man stepped backwards, confused, before walking away from them.

The Doctor reached into his pocket and threw something at Amy.

"Catch."

Amy caught the object, an apple with a face carved in it.

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveller. Everything I told you twelve years ago is true. I'm real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go right now, everything you've ever known is over.

Amy shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Just twenty minutes. Just believe me for twenty minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one. Amy, believe for twenty minutes."

"Amy, please."

Amy stared at him for a moment, before unlocking the car.

"What do we do?"

"Stop that nurse."

The Doctor ran onto the grass and over to a man wearing a nurse's uniform. Lila had seen him before. Rory, his name was, a friend of Amy's.

The Doctor snatched the phone out of Rory's hand and looked it, then turned back to Rory

"The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?"

"Amy!" Rory exclaimed, "And Lila, wasn't it?" He asked, greeting the two women

Lila nodded and waved awkwardly.

"Hi! Oh, this is Rory, he's a friend."

"Boyfriend."

Amy shrugged. "Kind of boyfriend."

"Amy."

"Man and dog. Why?" the Doctor asked again.

Rory stared at him for a moment. "Oh my God. It's him."

Amy rolled her eyes "Just answer his question, please."

"It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor."

"Yeah, he came back."

"But he was a story! He was a game–"

The Doctor grabbed Rory by the shoulders and shook him.

"Man and dog. Why? Tell me now." He shouted.

"Sorry. Because he can't be there. Because he's–"

"In a hospital, in a coma." The two spoke at once.

Rory nodded. "Yeah."

"Knew it." He looked at Lila "Multiform, you see? Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a life feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind." He poked Rory in the forehead for effect.

There was loud barking noise and the four turned to see the man and dog staring angrily at them.

"Prisoner Zero."

"What? There's a Prisoner Zero too?" Rory asked, looking at Amy.

"Yes."

There was a noise above them and the four looked up to see a spaceship with an eyeball floating above them.

"See," the Doctor said, "that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver."

The Doctor pressed a button on the device in his hand and suddenly the streetlights exploded. Lila looked around in astonishment. A moment later, a fire engine drove past them on its own, siren blaring.

"Oi! Come back here! Come back!" a fireman yelled

"What the hell is that thing?" Lila asked, motioning to the screwdriver.

"It's a screwdriver." The Doctor replied, "Pay attention. I think someone's going to notice, don't you?"

He blew up a red telephone box with the strange screwdriver, before it exploded.

"No, no! No, don't do that!"

"Look," Rory motioned to the space ship, "it's going."

"No, come back." The Doctor shouted. "He's here! Come back! He's here. Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is–"

"Doctor" Lila called, pointing to where Prisoner Zero had been standing only moments before,

"The drain." Amy continued, "It just sort of melted and went down the drain."

The Doctor turned to them.

"Well of course it did."

"What do we do now?"

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes. Come on, think. Think! Think!"

"So that thing, that hid in my house for twelve years?"

The Doctor nodded. "Multiforms can live for millennia. Twelve years is a pit-stop."

"So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do?" Amy asked accusingly, "The same minute!"

"They're looking for him, but they followed me. They saw me through the crack, got a fix, they're only late because I am."

"What's he on about?" Rory asked Lila. Lila opened her mouth, but was cut off by the Doctor.

"Nurse boy, give me your phone."

"How can he be real?" Rory asked Amy "He was never real."

"Phone. Now. Gimme." Rory handed him his phone

"He was just a game." Rory continued. "We were kids. You made me dress up as him."

The Doctor began flicking through the images on Rory's phone.

"These photos, they're are all coma patients?" He asked Rory.

"Yeah."

"No, they're all the multiform. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

Lila frowned "He had a dog, though. Is the dog in a coma too?"

"No, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good-looking one."

"Thanks."

"Jeff."

"Oh, thanks." Rory groaned. Lila laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

"He had a laptop in his bag. A laptop. Big bag, big laptop! I need Jeff's laptop. You two," He motioned to Amy and Rory, "get to the hospital. Get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done. Lila, with me."

He grabbed her hand and the two ran back through the village.

* * *

The Doctor and Lila ran through Mrs. Angelo's house and into Jeff's room. Jeff was lounging on his bed, scrolling through something on his laptop.

"Hello! Laptop. Give me." The Doctor motioned for Jeff to hand him the laptop.

Jeff shook his head "No, no, no, no, wait."

"It's fine, Jeff. Just give it to him."

Jeff held on to the laptop, trying to pull it out of the Doctor's grasp.

"Hang on!"

The Doctor took the laptop and saw what Jeff was browsing. Lila looked over the Doctor's shoulder and scrunched up her nose.

"Blimey. Get a girlfriend, Jeff."

Mrs. Angelo entered and Jeff looked up at her.

"Gran."

"What are you doing?" She asked the Doctor.

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big old video conference call. All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me. And my lovely friend Lila, here."

Lila scoffed.

"Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore…"

Mrs. Angelo smiled. "I like Patrick Moore."

"I'll get you his number. But watch him, he's a devil."

"You can't just hack in on a secure call like that!" Lila exclaimed.

"Can't I?"

Six faces popped up on the screen. The Doctor reached into his pocked and pulled out a small leather wallet. He opened it and flashed them a small, blank piece of paper.

"Wait, what? Why are you showing them a blank piece of paper?"

The Doctor stopped for a moment and stared at her, smiling.

"What?"

He continued to smile for a moment longer before turning back to the screen.

"Nothing."

"Who are you?" One of the faces on the screen asked.

"This is a secure call." Came another voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Hello. Yeah, I know you should switch me off, but before you do, watch this."

"It's here too, I'm getting it."

The Doctor began busily typing away. He glanced at Lila every so often, speaking more to her than the people on the screen.

"Fermat's Theorem, the proof. And I mean the real one. Never been seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault. I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie. Why electrons have mass. And a personal favourite of mine, faster than light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention."

"Sir, what are you doing?" the man from NASA asked

"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. And why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. Okay, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish, whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?"

"Patrick, behave."

"What does this virus do? Lila asked him.

"It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters. It gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain." He glanced sideways at Jeff.

"Jeff, you're my best man."

Jeff's eyes widened "You what?"

The Doctor placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff, right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?"

"It's your bedroom. Now go, go, go."

The Doctor grabbed Lila's hand and ran out of the room. He doubled back and stuck his head through the door again.

"Oh, and delete your Internet history."

The Doctor and Lila ran out into the street and looked around.

"What now?"

"We need to get to the hospital. Do you have a car?"

Lila shook her head. She looked around and a thought crossed her mind.

She tugged on the Doctor's arm and motioned to a fire engine that was parked nearby. The Doctor turned and grinned at her.

"Oh, Lila Clarke. I like you already."

* * *

Rory's phone buzzed in the Doctor's pocket. He took it out and threw it to Lila.

"Answer it."

Lila answered the call and pressed the phone to her ear. "Amy? Where are you? Are you at the hospital?

"Yes, but something's happened, we can't get through."

Lila frowned for a moment. "Wait, aren't you wearing a police uniform?"

There was a brief silence on the other end.

"Genius, thanks! Are you two on your way? You're going to need a car."

"Don't worry, we found something."

The Doctor grinned and turned on the siren. Lila laughed.

There was a long silence, then Lila heard muffled voices on the other end of the phone. She frowned.

"Amy? Are you in yet?"

There was a small pause before Amy responded.

"Yep. But so is Prisoner Zero."

Her eyes widened. "Doctor, Prisoner Zero–"

"Tell them to get out."

"Amy? You need to get out of there."

There was silence on the end of the phone for a while, then suddenly Lila heard Rory shout.

"Oh my god."

"Amy, Rory? What's happening?"

There was no answer.

"Amy?"

The Doctor snatched the phone off her and motioned for her to take the wheel. Lila frowned.

"You want me to drive a fire engine? Doctor, I'm so short I can barely see over the flipping wheel."

The Doctor frowned. "You're not that short."

Lila rolled her eyes "I was exaggerating. But seriously, I'm really not the best person to–"

The Doctor grabbed her hands and placed them on the wheel

"Drive." He mouthed.

Lila groaned and took the wheel.

The Doctor placed the phone to his ear.

"Amy, Talk to me."

He paused, listening.

"Which window are you?"

"Amy, Which window?"

He turned to Lila. "See that window over there? We're going to have to crash into it."

Lila blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Window, fourth from the end. Crash. Now."

Lila stared incredulously at him.

"You want me to crash a fire engine into a window. A hospital window. You do realise I could be arrested for that?"

"Lila, do it now."

"No! I'm not–"

"NOW."

Lila groaned and slammed her foot on the accelerator, ramming the fire engine into the side of the building, smashing the window.

"Aha! Now that's how you do it!" The Doctor grinned and got out of the truck, climbing up the ladder, through the window and into the hospital. Lila followed him. She looked around. Amy and Rory where there, staring at a woman with two children. Prisoner Zero, Lila assumed.

"Right! Hello." The Doctor waved, "Am I late? No, three minutes to go. So still time."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" Prisoner Zero scoffed.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."

The Doctor laughed "Okay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave."

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did."

"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from? You don't, do you?"

The next voice that came was that of a child.

"The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know. Doesn't know!"

"The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

"And we're off! Look at that. Look at that!"

He motioned to the clock, which had reset to 0:00

"Yeah, I know, just a clock. Whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is Zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute? The source, by the way, is right here."

He held up the phone.

A moment later, a light shone through the window.

"Oh! And I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Ooo, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is, no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare. Who da man?" He looked around at Amy, Rory and Lila, who merely stared. "Oh, I'm never saying that again. Fine."

Prisoner Zero smiled "Then I shall take a new form."

"Oh, stop it. You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years."

There was a crash behind them and the Doctor and Lila turned to find Amy unconscious on the floor, Rory kneeling beside her. The Doctor ran over to them.

"No! Amy? You've got to hold on. Amy? Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

"Doctor." Lila called, pointing to Prisoner Zero's new form.

The Doctor stood up. "Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"

"What do you mean? It's you!"

"Me? Is that what I look like?"

"What you mean is that what you look like? Of course that's what you look like. How can you not know what you look like?" Lila asked

The Doctor shrugged. "Busy day. Why me, though?" he asked, "You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

A little girl with red hair suddenly came from behind a curtain and grabbed onto the duplicate's hand.

"I'm not. Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

"No, she's dreaming about me because she can hear me."

He turned and knelt back down beside Amy.

"Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy, dream about what you saw."

"No. No. No!"

Prisoner Zero began glowing, then transformed again. The Doctor stood up and walked over.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself."

The Atraxi returned, shining their lights through the windows.

"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."

Prisoner Zero hissed. "Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall."

A moment later, Prisoner Zero vanished, along with the light.

The Doctor ran to the window and looked outside.

Rory frowned. "The sun. It's back to normal, right? That's, that's good, yeah? That means it's over."

Amy began to stir.

"Amy. Are you okay? Are you with us?"

"What happened?"

"He did it. The Doctor did it." Lila said.

"No, I didn't." The Doctor said, fiddling with Rory's phone.

"What are you doing?" Lila asked him.

"Tracking the signal back. Sorry in advance." He said, glancing at Rory.

"About what?"

"The bill."

The Doctor placed the phone to his ear

"Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now. Okay, now I've done it. "

"Wait, what? Did you just bring them BACK?" Lila asked "Did you just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?"

The Doctor ran off down the hospital corridor, Amy, Rory and Lila following.

"Where are you going?" Lila called.

"The roof. No, hang on." He turned the corner and entered the locker room.

"What's in here?" Amy asked.

"I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show."

"You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off. Um, guys, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you."

Rory and Lila both turned their backs.

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know."

Lila frowned. "Amy, aren't you going to turn your back?"

Amy smirked. "No."

* * *

The Doctor led them out onto the roof, still carrying a selection of ties. A space ship was hovering overhead.

"So are you going to tell us why you think this is a good idea?" Lila asked, "They were leaving!"

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better." He looked up at the spaceship and shouted

"Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now."

The Eyeball dropped down and scanned the Doctor.

"You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it."

He looked down at the selection of ties handing from his neck

"Oh, hmm, I don't know. What do you think?"

He took one of the ties off and threw it to Rory.

"Is this world important?"

"Important? What's that mean, important? Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He asked, discarding another tie.

"Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat? "

The eyeball released a projection, showing images of the earth at different times.

"No." It concluded.

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"

"No."

"Okay. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many. And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?"

"Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically, run."

The Eyeball zoomed back into the ship, which flew very quickly back into the sky.

There was a brief silence, then Doctor looked up as if he'd heard something. He reached into his pocket and brought out a key that was glowing red. He took off, running across the roof and back inside the hospital. Lila frowned and began to chase after him, struggling to keep up.

The Doctor stopped when he reached a garden and stood, staring at a blue telephone box.

"What is that?" Lila asked.

He turned and smiled at her.

"Would you like to have a look?"

"At what?"

The Doctor swung open the doors of the police box. "Okay." He murmured, "What have you got for me this time?"

He stepped in and motioned for Lila to follow. She paused and frowned.

"You want me to go in there?" she asked, "Why?"

"Come see for yourself!" the Doctor called from inside.

Lila sighed and stepped inside, then looked around in awe.

"But it's– it's–" She stammered "It's– it's bigger… on the inside? How–"

He grinned at her "Clever, eh?"

She laughed and nodded.

"So, Lila Clarke, welcome aboard. This is the TARDIS– stands for time and relative dimensions in space."

"So… A spaceship?"

The Doctor laughed.

"A spaceship." He agreed.

"How big is it?" She questioned.

The Doctor shrugged. "Big enough. Do you like it?"

Lila frowned suddenly and took a step backwards.

"No. No, sorry. This can't be real." She leant against the handrail and placed a hand on her head "This has got to be some kind of joke or something. Or a dream. A daydream. Gosh, daydreaming, I haven't done that in a while." She rambled, shaking her head.

The Doctor walked over and went to put his hand on her arm. Lila jumped and pulled away. A moment later she relaxed again and sighed.

"Sorry. It's been a very strange day."

"You don't believe me."

Lila sighed. "I– I don't know– This is all too…weird for my liking. I want to, but… it's impossible."

"Its not impossible. I promise." The Doctor smiled slightly.

Lila sighed.

"I'm dreaming. I have to be. In a moment I'll wake up in Jeff's house and none of this would have happened." She rubbed her eyes furiously.

"What makes you say that?"

Lila shrugged.

"It wouldn't be the first time." She muttered.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, then strode over to the TARDIS console and began pulling leavers. He grinned at her.

"Well then, Lila Clarke. I guess I'll just have to prove it to you." 

* * *

_**I hope you enjoy! Maybe? Just a little? Fingers crossed! Thank you for reading! :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry! This chapter is kinda short (and bad). Please enjoy anyway :)**

* * *

The TARDIS materialised in Amy's garden. The door opened and the Doctor stuck his head out.

"And see?" He stepped out and pointed to the sky "Now it's night!" He grinned at the short, ginger woman who stepped out after him. She sighed.

"Okay, fine. I believe you now. I'm still slightly paranoid that you've actually just drugged me or something, but for the moment, yes, I believe you. Okay?"

"Doctor."

They looked up to see Amy standing before them, wearing a nightgown and staring at them in disbelief.

"Amy! Sorry about running off earlier. Brand new TARDIS. Bit exciting. Just had a quick hop to the moon and back to run her in. This one over here" he motioned to Lila, "didn't believe I could really travel in time. Can you believe it?"

Amy stared at them.

"It's you. You came back. Both of you."

"Course we came back. I always come back. Something wrong with that?"

"And you kept the clothes."

"Well, I just saved the world. The whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me. I kept the clothes."

"Including the bow tie."

"Yeah, it's cool." He said, hand reaching up to straighten the tie, "Bow ties are cool."

Lila and Amy exchanged glances. Lila shook her head.

"Yeah, no. Sorry. Pretty much the opposite of cool." She said apologetically. "Unless you're from another planet, maybe."

The Doctor smiled "Well I am, yeah."

Lila raised an eyebrow. "O…kay."

"So what do you think, you two?"

"Of what?" Amy asked.

"Other planets. Want to check some out?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means. Well, it means come with me."

Amy frowned. "Where?"

"Wherever. You. Like."

"All that stuff that happened. The hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero–"

The Doctor smiled. "Oh, don't worry, that's just the beginning. There's loads more."

"Yeah," Amy continued, "but those things, those amazing things, all that stuff. That was TWO years ago."

Lila's eyes widened.

"Wait, what? WHAT!" she exclaimed, turning to the Doctor, "You said we were only going forward a few hours! We've been gone two years?"

The Doctor frowned. "Oops. Sorry."

"TWO YEARS? We've been gone for two fucking years and that's all you have to say to me?"

"Well what do you want me to say?"

Lila glared at him and kicked him in the shin. The Doctor yelped and hopped on one leg, rubbing the other with his hands.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Take me back!" She exclaimed. "You have a time machine! Take me back to the day we left! Jeff and everyone must have been worried sick!"

"Actually," Amy butted in "They were worried at first, but after they got your letter everything was fine."

Lila frowned. "What letter? I didn't send any letter."

"The one telling them you were going travelling–"

"Ah, Amy." The Doctor interrupted, "She hasn't sent them a letter. At least not yet."

It was Amy's turn to frown. "What do you mean?"

"Time travel" The Doctor explained, waving his hand, "Its all mind boggling and wibbly-wobbly. Basically sometime in the future Lila is going to send a letter to Jeff and Mrs. Angelo telling them that she's travelling and that they don't need to worry about her. Not sure when. Maybe now." He turned to Lila, "Maybe you should send it now."

"Travelling? Where the hell would I be–"

"With me, I hope. Well, us. " The Doctor interrupted, waving a hand towards Amy.

"With you?"

"Yeah. With me." He smiled, looking between them. "Other planets, other worlds. Sound interesting?"

Lila shrugged. "I guess."

"You guess?"

'Well, I have nothing better to do." She said flippantly. "Just promise that if you get sick of me you're not going to accidentally drop me off on Mars."

The Doctor chuckled "You have my word. What about you, Amelia Pond?" He asked, turning to Amy.

Amy looked past him to the TARDIS, thoughtfully.

"When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool. And a library. And the swimming pool was in the library."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So, coming?"

"No."

"You wanted to come fourteen years ago."

"I grew up."

"Don't worry. I'll soon fix that."

He opened the TARDIS door and motioned for them to follow. Lila stepped back inside, followed by Amy.

"Well? Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all."

"I'm in my nightie." Amy said suddenly.

Lila rolled her eyes. "Bigger on the inside spaceship and that's really the first thing you think of?"

"Oh, don't worry." The Doctor said, Ignoring Lila. "Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe. And possibly a swimming pool. So, you two, all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?"

Lila raised an eyebrow. "You're so sure that we're coming."

"Yeah. I am."

"Why?" Amy asked

The Doctor pointed to her "Cause you're the Scottish girl in the English village, and I know how that feels."

"Oh, do you?"

"All these years living here, most of your life, and you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming. And you" He pointed to Lila, "Computer programmer, alone in a strange village with no family. Of course you're coming."

"Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?" Amy asked.

"It's a time machine." The Doctor said, "I can get you back five minutes ago."

Lila coughed. "Says the guy who just brought me back to earth two years late."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Like I said, brand new TARDIS. Sometimes it takes her a little while to get back into the swing of things. Why, what's tomorrow?" He turned back to Amy.

She shrugged. "Nothing. Nothing. Just you know, stuff."

"All right, then." He nodded. "Back in time for stuff."

Suddenly, a sonic screwdriver rose out of a slot in the TARDIS console.

"Oh! A new one! Lovely. Thanks, dear."

He pressed the button on the end of the screwdriver, causing it to light up. He then pocketed the screwdriver and began pulling leavers on the TARDIS console.

"Why us?" Amy asked.

"Why not?"

"No, seriously. You are asking both of us to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why?"

"I don't know. Fun. Do I have to have a reason?"

"People always have a reason." Lila said.

"Do I look like people?"

"Yes."

"Been knocking around on my own for a while. My choice, but I've started talking to myself all the time. It's giving me earache."

"You're lonely. That's it? Just that?" Amy asked.

"Just that. Promise."

"Okay."

"So, are you okay, then?" He asked Amy, "Because this place, sometimes it can make people feel a bit, you know."

"I'm fine. It's just, there's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought. Well, I started to think that maybe you were just like a madman with a box."

"Amy Pond, Lila Clarke, there's something you'd better understand about me, because it's important, and one day your life may depend on it. I am definitely a madman with a box. Ha ha!" He grinned at them and set the TARDIS into flight.

"Goodbye Leadworth, hello everything."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I found this chapter quite weird/awkward to write for some reason, so apologies if it isn't great.**


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